June 29, 2008

Easy Breezy Wrap Pants Tutorial

In my last post, I showed off some photos of the wrap pants I made. Today I’m going to show you how to make your own!

Note: Please don’t use this tutorial for commercial purposes. I made the decision to post this tutorial despite the fact that I’m currently offering these pants for sale in my Etsy shop, http://Laupre.Etsy.com, because I love to share. If you like this tutorial, please take a moment to stop by my shop and have a look. Thanks!

These pants are the perfect solution for hot summer days. The slit sides allow for a cool breeze while still giving you plenty of coverage. For a long time I thought I couldn’t make myself a pair of pants. I struggled with a number of different patterns and could never manage to make anything I’d be willing to wear out of the house. Now that I’ve worked out how to make these, I never want to take mine off! In this tutorial I won’t be giving you many specific measurements, and you won’t need to calculate any formulas to get started. I use an organic, freeform way to get the right size and I’ll explain how I do it as we go.

Fabric: I used two yards for this tutorial. I cut the width of the fabric to fit the waist and cut the length to the length I wanted the pant.

Ribbon or Ties: Good quality grosgrain ribbon makes excellant ties and are a quick and easy way to do it. You can also make your own ties with lengths of fabric sewn into tubes or straps. You’ll need four pieces as long as you want then (mine are about an arm’s length).

Sewing supplies: Thread, Scissors, Sewing machine or needle, Iron

Step 1

You’ll want two rectangles of fabric. They should be wide enough to wrap all the way around your waist with some overlap. (for those of you that need a measurement, an extra 12 inches over your waist measurement or so should do) It will need to be wide enough to cut out the crotch area and to make a hem at each end. I suggest going bigger than you think you’ll need the first time you try it. It’s really easy to make a larger hem or trim it down once it’s together if they’re too big. If you end up with pants that are too small, though, you can always add extra panels to the sides. They look great in a contrasting color! The rectangles should be the length you want them to hang plus enough for a hem on top and on the bottom.

Place right sides together and fold the rectangles together so that the sides of the pants are all together and the top and bottom of the pants are at opposite ends.

Step 2

Cut out the crotch area. You’re going to cut a shape like a half of a U along the center fold. If you want an exact shape you can borrow a piece from a pants pattern and follow that line. Otherwise you should be able to wing it. Take a look at the curve on a regular pair of pants if you’re unsure. I use the width of my hand at the knuckles to gauge how far to cut in from the center fold and about about a hand and a half (wrist to fingertips wise) from the top of the pants. The deeper you cut from the top of the pants in this step, the higher you waistline will be. For a rough estimate, I’d say to make the cut about 4 inches wide and about 11 inches from the top of the pant. This measurement doesn’t have to be precise, the design of the pant is very simple!

When you unfold the rectangles you’ll see your U:

Make a curved seam along this U. This is the only curved seam you’ll have to worry about! Stitch it, serge it, bind it… however you like to finish it, just make sure it’s a nice strong seam. I like to top stitch it as well for extra strength

Step 3

Now you’ve got a giant pair of pants!

It’s time to hem all the rough edges. Yes, there are a lot of edges to hem. This is my least favorite activity because it’s just a bunch of straight lines, I suggest turning on some music and singing along so loudly that the neighbor’s dog starts to howl while you do it (or at least that works for me when I start to get bored). As a little tip, use your iron to press your hems well before you begin to sew! A good press will make it remarkably easier to get good straight lines for your hems. I usually do the sides first, then the bottom hem, and I’ll cover the waistband in the next step. In other words, hem all of the lengths of fabric that don’t have the crotch seam in them.

Step 4

All that is left to sew now is the waistband and add the ties. These are done together as one step. First, fold and press the hems for the two waistband sections (the two sides that have a seam in them.) Take your four ties and pin one to each end of the waistband, inside the fold.

Now stitch up the waistband along your hem. Be sure that your ties are sewn on securely. I like to use multiple rows of stitching. (If you’re using ribbon for your ties be sure that the free ends are finished either by hemming, tying a knot, or however you like.)

And now your pants are complete!

Wear them tied in front or tied in back and enjoy.

Just in case you missed it in my last post, here are the instructions on how to tie them on:

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These are AWESOME. Saw them on Craftster, and I SO want to make a pair (as soon as I get home from gosh darned college and can get to my machine…xD). Quick question… Any particular sort of fabric the best for this? Just plain cotton? Or… Something else?

So cute! (and if I had any money I’d be in your etsy right now…xD WISH I had money… *sigh*, those thermal fingerless gloves are PERFECT for my sister!)

Wonderfully outlined! I’ve been making similar pants for a while now and I have to say you’re are the clearest instructions to follow. I LOVE these pants, if I have my way I’ll soon get rid of my jeans in favor of these.

One little word of caution though? The first couple of times getting to the bathroom can be entertaining. Whichever way they get tied, make sure to hold onto the back fabric AND the ties. Walking around all day after dropping them into the privy is’nt much fun!

Great tutorial – I had a pair of these pants in the now too-distant past.
What I remember that I didn’t like about them was the fabric was too heavy making them feel like I walk walking through the wind with sails. A lighter fabreic would make them much easier to wear – and to keep on!
Thanks again!

Great tutorial!
Just finished a pair from an old sarong I had, I just folded it in half. It worked great as the sides were already finished and I only had to hem the top, so it was even faster than your example. I ended up leaving the fringy side down to be the bottom hem and so far I’m liking that too. I mean to wear them mainly around the house, so if I get sick of the fringe, I can just cut ’em off. I used wide twill tape that I already had on hand for the ties.

I really like the ones you show in your “how to put them on” shots (which helped me alot, thanks) – the rayon sarong was a bit slippery to sew, and I like the look of your cotton ones. Lots of room for embellishment, I’m thinking… Anyhow, these are so comfy, I will be making more! Thanks for sharing!

wow!!!!!!! those are awesome!!!!!!! i am totally going to try to make some once i get my machine back (is in the shop right now). one of my music teachers always wears wrap pants and i always liked how they looked. well thank you sooo much for the tut!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, just made these pants in a bout 30 minutes. Thanks so much for the tutorial. I love them. One comment: maybe I did something wrong, but it seems that you would want 12 inches LESS than your waist measurement instead of MORE, like it is stated. Better to start out too big and work down though. Thanks!

Reply from LauPre:
I’m so glad you liked the tutorial! Just to clarify, the extra inches are added to waist measurement to account for the fabric cut away for the crotch and the side seams. If you start with the fabric width at less than your waist measurement they won’t come all the way around once they’re finished. 12 inches might be too much, depending on your measurements, the width of the hems at the sides, and how much you cut for the crotch area, but like you said, it’s better to have too much than not enough to work with.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
LauPre

you know what’s funny Courtney. it’s about midnight-thirty here and I’m seriously contemplating getting out of bed to start a pair now. I think I have some old fabric that was going to be a cloak. and I really think I can make these!!! I haven’t properly finnished a project yet. still teaching myself…

wish me luck! and cross your fingers I don’t wake the hubby! he still has a job. at least one of us does right? anyway, that’s another story…

I found your tutorial for wrap pants via whipup. I can’t wait to try it. It looks fantastic.
I have a pretty crappy broadband connection, so the first time I downloaded the tutorial, not all the pictures downloaded – some just showed a question mark icon – i wasn’t sure whether the files were in different formats or what was going on.
Anyway when I tried tonight, they came up fine, so I decided to be on the safe side and save the tute as a pdf file, which means it stays forever as you meant it to.
I don’t know how easy or hard it is to create pdfs on a PC – I’m a mac user and it’s dead easy.
If you’d like me to send it to you, let me know your email address.

[…] boggling 200 new posts so it took me a while to find one that caught my attention. Then I found it. Wrap pants. All the comments on the designer’s blog talked about how easy they were to make so how could […]

Thank you for this wonderful tutorial. I’ve always wondered, how do you put such pants on!?!?!? :) Now i know and i’m totally inlove with these pants. I made myself a pair and wore them on our rare hot summerdays. Thanks again. If you like, you can check my pants on my blog:http://www.kuutydrukv.blogspot.com

Thanks for the tutorial! I wanted to share this with you because I hope you’ll get some enjoyment out of helping me out in an unexpected way :)

I sort of made a pair last night out of microsuede to test an idea. I was thinking I could make a pair as coveralls for running the chainsaw, weed whacking, etc. There seems to be more freedom of movement and protection than with aprons and you don’t have to take your boots off to get them on/off like with coveralls. Not to mention that I don’t have to look around for them in my size or order them from a sketchy internet company, and my wife, my son, or anyone else who wasn’t the same size as me can borrow them.

It was easy as pie, because I didn’t hem anything and I didn’t sew the “u” part the whole way, just a little at the top of each side to hold the waistband together so it would have a fly. You could probably use a grommet kit and a string to hold the two legs together at the waistband and all you would need to do is sew the ties on. That way if one side got a hole or got chewed by the dog or something you could just make another half and tie it together instead of replacing the whole pair.

It worked pretty well, I think! Well enough to try it with some real leather.

Ah, I took a photot of a pair of trousers using the same idea this summer. They were called Portugese Fishermans Trousers I think. The only difference were that in the pair I photographed the back were about one inch higher.

I am in LOVE with you and your pants!! I’ve had them on my favorites on Etsy for awhile, waiting for some $$ to send your way…. but then found this! I would have forever been too lazy to figure out the technique for myself. Since I saw it this morning I’ve made 2 pairs and loooooooooooove them! THANK YOU!!
Being a seller and sewer myself, and actually knowing of and wanting your pants before I discovered your wonderful tutorial, I feel like maybe I may have lost you some money in making my own- but I admire so much that you are willing to share all this with us and would really like to make you something in “return”…. let me know if you are interested :) you can see stuff made (in sold items) at sinnervip.etsy.com or thepinkplaidsheep.etsy.com (I swear that’s not a plug on my part for anyone but you!).
Thanks so much again!!
Kari

Hooray! After buggering up a perfectly good yard of fabric on a bought shirt pattern, how DELIGHTED am I to be a third of the way through these free-cuttin’, free-sewin’ marvels. Taking a dinner break, then back to the pants with me!!!

Thank you SO much. These will be awesome for summer, and forgiving and accomodating of the weightloss (post baby) plan.

I’ve been sitting here cracking my head trying to figure out how these pants are supposed to come together, and i know you have pictures there to explain how to tie them on and how to make the patterns but i still dont understand at all how they are supposed to work!

The u shaped thing doesn’t make much sense to me at all, if that is the crotch it just seems way too small for me, and the picture where it says “Now you have a huge pair of pants” how did that come together?

I just really can’t seem to understand the tutorial at all, and it’s too bad because i really like the pants -sigh-

Hi,
Yeah, the U shaped part is the line for the crotch, and goes between your legs from front to back. To get from the photos in step two, after you’ve sewn along the U shape, to the photo in step three, it’s just a matter of opening up the fabric. I know it’s kind of a hard concept to visualize, but it’s kind of like each of the large rectangles wraps around one of your legs, and they’re just attached at the U shaped part. Once you sew that one seam, the rest is all just hemming and attaching the ties.

You could take a look at a pair of pants that you already have an imagine what it would look like if you cut straight down the outside side seams from the top to the bottom.
I hope my explanation makes this a little clearer, let me know if you need more explanation, because honestly it’s really simple once you get it.

I was wrestling with the idea of finding a pattern to make these pants in my size..18…. its not sold everywhere…… and a new idea for me. I happen to search for an instructional..and found yours.
thanks for showing us, you saved me me the pain of searching pattern books and then the money for the pattern….jean

Wrap Pants, elastic waist…..I have an idea for a more form fitting wrap pants pattern, instead of a straight sewn waistline and tie straps, how about a wide elastic stitched around each side , front and back , allowing a more shapely waistline and more form fitting.By connecting the elastic ends with a hook a size of your choice, both front and back , like on a bra RATHER than ties,This would prevent the sometimes uncomfortable “tie ” tigthness and make the wrap pants a little more comfortable around the weaist line …Anyone thought of this yet? …jean

Hello There: Thank you so much for posting this tutorial. I learned of it on the Burda Style site where one of the members made a stunning pair in light blue silk. Anyway, I also gave up on sewing my own pants years ago. No matter how thin I get, it just doesn’t work out! So, I am very eager to try these, and I appreciate your generosity in sharing.

I actually had to laugh as I read this tutorial. You sew very much the same way I do. About a hand span here and a palms worth there! I think I’ll give these pants a go. They look like they would be very comfortable to wear. I teach art in a primary school so I like to wear something that is both comfortable and a bit different.

You have no idea how perfect this is for me. My weight has been fluctuating recently and I refuse to buy a larger size (my own issues) while I am trying to lose weight. I love that these are adjustable and could be cut down if I lose as much weight as I am hoping to.
Thank you so much.

You have a seriously AWESOME talent!!! I’ve been tring to figure out how those pants work / fit together for a very long while now!!! LOL !!! I checked out some of the items on your site … fabulous looking stuff (unfortunitely for me most of your stuff is totally out of my price range;) ) I liked the “military green ruffle bustle skirt and corset laced halter set” best!!!

[…] So that is all for the weekend post and some of yesterday’s and yep its late as my summer class have been taking up some time as well as having to make other things like the wrap pants i finished make yesterday following a tutorial. […]

I LOVE these pants! I just whipped up a pair from a set of repurposed curtains I found at goodwill. The best part – I didn’t have to hem!! They are so comfy and will be absolutely perfect for this summer. Thank you so much for sharing your tutorial!

I looove these pants! Thanks so much for the instructions and photos. I made two pairs, in salmon coloured linen with embroidered detail at the bottom. The embroidery allowed me to not make a seam for the bottom , which is always fun.
I made my second pair about 6 inches smaller around, which lets the leg slits open about to my knee when I walk.
Thanks!!!

great tutorial! I’m so glad I found this and u plan to make my own finally.

here’s a helpful hint on tying them:
If you’re a guy, tie them AT the front FIRST. if your a girl, tie them AT the back FIRST.
if you do this it makes using the ladies/mens room MUCH easier. (unless men must do more than number one of course.)
I learned that from this guy when I bought my first pair at a rennasiance fair.

I want a pair in fleece . I have off white and black. I think I will have two layers. no hemming necessary. good with black tights.
I’m also working with sarongs to tie over black fleece tights and uggs. Sarongs can be doubled so it is above the knee or more.
I am looking for clothing that is very loose. It gives me privacy yet allows me to expose my body in a covered yet sensuous way.
Thats better at 58. Thanks for the pattern.

Years ago, in the late 1960s, I used to make these pants but here is the difference: I used the full width of the fabric for each “side” ( ie 45″ for the front and for the back), I used elastic in the waist band, and made them long. The result was a very comfortable flowing pair of lounge pants that paired perfectly with a T-shirt.

I have been wanting a pair of these for a long time but never could find a pattern and/or instructions.
I appreciate what you’ve provided. No, I don’t intend to use them for profit, only to wow my friends who are
always looking to see what cool clothes I’ve discovered…again. Many thanks!

OMG!!! I have been wanting a pair of these for soooo long! I have seen other patterns, but your tutorial is the best. It makes sense out of the other patterns (and I don’t want to pay $9.00 at the store for a pattern). Thank you so much!

Bless you forever – I can’t find hese pants on the market for my size- no details – and have been longing to find out how to make them. I just stumbled on your site and I thank you from my very bottom.

Great tutorial. My mother made a pair of these back in the late 60’s or early 70’s from a commercial pattern. The print she used would probably still look good today. She loved them. I remember looking at the construction and making a pair for one of my dolls. In fact, recently I was thinking about making a pair for me.

[…] pants! Helena showed us how from an internet tutorial she’d read, I’m guessing it was this one. These turned out cute enough to actually even wear outside the house! At least, I wore them to the […]

THANK YOU! So excited, I can’t wait to make some. I saw a girl at a dance wearing long pair of these and immediately fell in love with the way they looked in motion–have spent the ensuing three years trying to find a pair of trousers similar! If I’d known they were this easy to make I’d have three pairs by now!

I am happy to see that so many people (including a very creative man who is planning to do this in leather) have been introduced to these pants through your efforts.

However, as my father used to say, “There are few new ideas, just lots of new people.”

I’m in my late sixties now and these pants were all the rage 50 years ago among us “Flower Children” not to mention that they are traditional patterns for many Asian cultures. So, I don’t get how you can say they are YOURS and ask people not to copy them for sale. Many American pattern companies have this exact pattern and there are Asian factories making these in the tens of thousands right now. I believe that this “pattern” is really in the public domain worldwide.

WOW!! Suddenly interested in sewing in my forties,actually fluned it in H.S. Love the tutorial.Can’t wait to make them. Seem to recall my sister having a pair like these in the 70’s which I loved but was to small to borrow them. She hated it when i touched her stuff anyway,can’t wait to have a pair of my own. Maybe find some cool vintage material!!!

I have a pair that I don’t even know where I got- but I’ve been looking to duplicate them FOREVER!! I didn’t see anything I could purchase on your etsy store as a way to say thanks- but I will paint you a silk scarf- because this deserves a special THANK YOU!! I assume you can contact me with my email below, but just in case not, go to my website http://www.moonwhispers.com to let me know what you want!

I have a sari I’ve been wanting to make these with- so now I have next weekend’s project! Thanks again, Kim

Thanks for the Tute!!! Just made myself a pair from old fabric I had lying around. Next time I’ll be buying something nice and soft against the skin :) I’m not much of a sewer and have no patience, but these were so quick and easy :)

just made my first pair following your instructions! I used my worst skirt (print too big, fabric not flowy enough and too much fabric!) Now the skirt is a pair of wrap pants and possibly my favorite thing in my closet! I can’t wait to wear them!